Wine, Beer, Diwali Show, Rottnest Island and the end of term at UWA

G’day all,


Sorry for the long gap between my last blog and this one, but I’ve been pretty busy recently with assignment deadlines.


It’s been just over a month since I last updated my blog, so as you can imagine quite a lot has happened. However, I won’t bore you with my monotonous day-to-day routine of going into uni for lectures and hours in the library, in attempt to finish off these never ending assignments, and then coming home for a few beers in front of the TV before starting the cycle again the next day and instead I shall focus on the more interesting parts of this past month.


As all the regular followers of my blogs know that I’ve been drinking a lot of beer whilst out in Australia and not really embracing the ‘amazing’ wines of Western Australia, I thought it was time to put a change to that and ‘Spring in the Valley’ on the 10th October was the perfect opportunity to do so. Over that weekend, most of the wineries in the Swan Valley region just outside of Perth open up to the public (not for free) for a mini festival in the wineries. Our day started off early, leaving the house at 8.45am to meet Beni’s friends at the train station. We got to the Horton winery by about 10.30am. The tickets we bought include 6free wine tastings or one full glass of wine and by 11 o’clock we had all used up our vouchers on the wine tasting and it was time to by some bottles of wine. From 11am to about 4pm we went through 11 bottles of wine between 5 of us plus a few beers each. From what I remember, I quite enjoyed drinking wine that day and I’m sure I’ll be drinking wine more often from now on. Apart from the wine drinking, there was a free meal included and some live entertainment from some Australian bands that I had never heard of but they seemed to be extremely popular (The Hoodoo Gurus and Bob Evans). Apart from the occasional rain shower, I really enjoyed the day out!


After Spring in the Valley, we went into the city for a meal which I ordered a Pizza but I can’t (and nor can the others) remember much other than ordering the food. We had another bottle of wine and after that we headed in our separate directions. Beni and I got home by about 9pm and I was in bed just after 10 on a Saturday night!


The following day I was up surprisingly early and not hung over for a breakfast of chai paruta (that is probably the wrong spelling but I’m sure the Indians reading this will understand what I mean). I spent most of the day getting some work done and helping out around the house before we went out in the evening. We went for a meal at a gourmet burger restaurant called ‘Jus Burgers’ and I have to say that it was the best vegetarian burger I have ever had and I will definitely be heading back there before I leave Perth! After this meal we headed into the city centre for the ‘Festival of Lights’ show which was basically meant to be a Diwali show but because they wanted to be multicultural they didn’t call it a Diwali show. The show was outside and it was freezing that night and I have to say that the show started off terribly and we were ready to leave after about 20minutes. The show started with an Aboriginal war dance and was then followed by a very boring Scottish dance which was preceded by half an hour of a man singing Budgens and at this point anyone that was not Indian left.


However, I have to stay that the show dramatically improved with an amazing Chinese dance and some form of Brazilian Martial Arts performance. These were followed by a very funny but very good Ukrainian dance and then the generic Bollywood dances that everyone has seen hundreds of times before. The show was ended with an amazing fireworks display which lit up the Perth city skyline. Overall the event was very good especially considering that it was free to watch and if the show is put on next year, I highly recommend it to anybody who is in Perth at the time!


Nothing out of the ordinary happened the next few days, just more hours in the library making sure that I finished assignments before I headed off for a weekend away with some friends to Rottnest Island.


Friday 16th October came by which meant another weekend away with some friends. We went to a place called Rottnest Island which is just a 30minute ferry ride away from Perth. The trip started off very eventfully (a bit like the Monkey Mia trip) with us not being able to find the port where the ferry was departing from and as a result almost missing it! Thankfully one of our friends who is an Aussie came to the rescue and picked us up off the side of the road and got us to the ferry with literally seconds to spare. After this experience we got to Rottnest (Rotto) and we went and collected our bicycles and waited for some other friends who were coming on the next ferry. Once they arrived we cycled over to our hostel which used to be Army Barracks so as you can imagine they were extremely basic but the only time we would be spending there would be when we were sleeping.


Once we had settled in, we left the hostel and cycled to the bottle shop and picked up some alcohol and then headed to the pier where we thought we would watch the sunset but unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the island to see it. We sat on the pier drinking and talking and once again i found myself having an intense conversation this time not about Africa but about corporations such as Nike, Starbucks etc and their influence in the process of globalisation and their heavy exploitation of the third world! It was a pretty interesting conversation considering I was having it with an American girl who pretty much hated all of the American multi-national companies.


After the sun had set, we went for a dinner of fish and chips, well just chips for me and then continued our drinking before heading to one of the two bars on the island. It was a pretty cool bar which looked out onto the beach but by this point we were all slightly too intoxicated to care about the view. We left the bar at closing time to find that some of our bikes had been stolen so what was meant to be a 5minute bike ride back home became an hour long walk to our hostel! Most of the people went to bed but three of us stayed up and sat outside looking at the stars and talking. Honestly, I think I could quite happily move to Australia just to watch a beautiful sunset every night and then sit under the stars; it’s an experience that you can never get bored of.


The next day (17th October), Diwali day, we went and got breakfast and then planned out our day. The island itself is very small only 8km across so realistically you could probably cycle around the whole island in a day and that was what our aim was. Before we were to actually do anything, we had to get some more bicycles to replace the stolen ones and because this happens all the time and there is no way of smuggling bikes of the island the hire company gave us some more without charging us for them! We started cycling and at every nice beach we would stop and spend an hour or so just relaxing and swimming in the sea before getting back on our bikes and heading to the next one. We got quite far around the island and the only thing that stopped us completing the whole island was the 33degree heat and the hundreds of flies that would fly into your face whilst cycling.


At about 5pm we decided to head back to the hostel, freshen up and then go to the shop and get some food so that we could embrace the Aussie culture of doing a Barbie (barbeque) at any point possible. Luckily for once I wasn’t the only vegetarian so we ended up having two separate Barbies, one for the herbivores and another for the carnivores. By the end of the Barbie, everyone was pretty drunk apart from me because I felt I shouldn’t drink excessive amounts seeing as it was Diwali and we headed off to a karaoke bar. We got to the bar and it was like being at Butlins because the place was just full of thirty year old trashy Aussies who were completely hammered and were singing very very badly. Luckily for me, there was a TV on in the bar that was showing the Liverpool Sunderland game so I got to see Darren Bent’s/the beach ball’s goal!


After this cringe-worthy but amusing experience we went back to the bar which we were at the previous night and had a few more drinks before going back to the hostel and sitting outside listening to rowdy drunk Australian and Irish people (the Irish really are everywhere) shouting and arguing with the security. I always find it funny when security come and tell drunk people to keep the noise down but they end up making more noise by arguing with them than the drunk people were originally making!


On the Sunday, we had breakfast and then went back to our favourite beach from the previous day for a few hours before we had to catch the ferry home. Within five minutes of being home, Dilip Uncle asked me to go to the local Marina with him for a drink or two; I guess we were starting off the New Year as we meant to go on!


The weekend away was really good fun and I’m glad I went despite having so many deadlines the following week! The island itself was beautiful and because the weather was so good and the people I was with were always up for a laugh it made it a weekend to remember. I also learnt that I still love cycling and that I’m fitter than I thought I would be considering how little sports I play these days but my knees are weaker than ever and struggled every time there was a slight incline to cycle up so perhaps it is time to call it a day on all sports!


This past week, not a lot has happened, on Tuesday night we went out for a nice Thai meal with Dilip Uncle’s cousins who have come from England. From the Thai restaurant we went to have dessert at the place where Beni works and I have to say that despite their price, the desserts were amazing! I ordered a Frangelico Ice Cream (Keval would love it) with chocolate mousse.


I said in the previous paragraph that not a lot happened this past week, but having said that, the end of this past week has also meant the end of my time as a UWA student. I still have one assignment and two exams to take but no more lectures or tutorials anymore at UWA! Honestly, I’m a little sad to be leaving UWA. I love the University of Nottingham, but i feel more attached to UWA in just one semester than I do to Nottingham after a year there. I guess it is the same feelings i have about Brampton and Habs and more or less for the same sort of reasons. At a university like Nottingham or a school like Habs, you’re just another student but at a college like Brampton or a university such as UWA, you feel like part of the family. The lecturers at UWA know most people’s names which is something that would never happen in Nottingham and if they see you walking around campus they will stop and talk to you as if they’re a friend of yours.

My love for UWA was highlighted yesterday at the end of term party on campus which was actually really good (I’ll describe it in the next paragraph). I was just walking around the area and someone tapped me on the shoulder and said hello to me. Honestly, I couldn’t remember this guy but it turns out that I spoke to him in my orientation week and although I hadn’t seen him since then he still remembered my name and that I was a study abroad student and we had a good 5minute conversation. After I stopped talking to him a girl that I had met in the first few weeks of uni stopped to talk to me as well and ask me whether I had enjoyed my time at UWA. Although these are just everyday gestures, if people came to talk to you randomly in London or Nottingham i guess most of us would wonder what they want from us!


The summer party on campus was really good. The weather was beautiful and everyone was in good spirits. Firstly, I went to the bar to find out that they serve Vodka, lemonade and lime out of a can which is an extremely clever idea that should be brought to England! They had live music form a few low-key bands and one band in particular stood out for me. They were called Brownes and their musical instruments consisted of a keyboard, double bass, a trombone, a trumpet and drums but yet from these instruments they made hip hop music and had a very good rapper as part of the group as well! However, the highlight of my short time at the summer party was meeting a Zimbabwean guy who was wearing a Spurs shirt with Ginola on the back. He was so excited that I was a Spurs fan, and he asked me to teach him a few chants so he could sing them to his mates that support Arsenal! He took down my details and made me promise him that if he ever came to England that I would take him to a Spurs match! It was a pretty good day but I had to leave early as we (Dilip uncle, Ina aunty, their friends and I) were doing a Barbie on the beach in the evening.


I’m guessing the question on most of your minds is: Have I enjoyed my time at UWA and was the study abroad period worth it?


The answer is a most definitely. I’ve loved it here and regardless of what mark I come out uni with because of it (I lose 10% of whatever I get out here when I go back to Nottingham), I don’t regret it for one second. I’ve learnt so much and have met some fantastic people who I hopefully will stay in touch with and meet up with whenever I can! If anyone is offered the opportunity to study or work abroad, I couldn’t recommend it highly enough!



However, now that the studying is almost over, it means that the real fun of travelling begins very soon, so look forward to my blogs of my travels!


I hope all is well back home and Sal Mubarak to you all!
Mihir